An epic retold?!

Tagged as the modern-day Ramayana, Raavanan seems like a justifiable replica in terms of the storyline. The fourteen-year vanavaasa period of Ramayana shrunk to fourteen days appears remarkable. With brilliant cinematography, commendable acting and music being the pluses, lack of fine tuning looks like a major drawback. The forest dweller setting taken on purpose, ineffectively tries to reveal the quality of life of the people. Is the director attempting to focus on yet another issue, like the Babri masjid affair of Bombay, Kashmir problem of Roja, the Lankan spotlight of Kannathil Muthamittaal ? May be not. Being one of the much spoken films of the year so far, it is time to wait and observe the impact this trilingual release has created.

The Argumentative Indian

" Just consider how terrible the day of your death will be.
  Others will go on speaking, and you will not be able to argue back."
                                                                           - Ram Mohun Roy

Thus ends the first of the collection of 16 essays by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen in the book - The Argumentative Indian. Citing examples for the traditional Indian loquaciousness, this essay moves on to provide a gist of everything that the book deals with. Part one titled Voice and Heterodoxy basically shows the diverse nature acquired and dynamism possessed by India all along. Starting with the significance of dialogue it moves on to touch upon gender, caste, emergence of Hindutva, Democracy, historical evidences of the presence of agnosticism - atheism, science and astronomy, numbers, colonial dominance, tradition and pride, Hindus and Muslims in history. In Part two ( Culture and Communication ), the author impressively chalks out the indigenous culture as exposed to and superimposed on the exotic culture. The section on Tagore has shown him to be something more than one of the greatest poets India has ever had. His disagreements with certain Gandhian policies (despite having high regards for him) throws light on his pragmatic thinking. The essay on China and India gives an in depth understanding of the relation between the two nations on all spheres. Politics and Protest, a stimulating title in itself is the theme of Part three. Issues of class, gender inequality and weapons of mass destruction have been discussed back to front. With snapshots on secularism, ancient India and its calendars, global connections, pluralism and receptivity to name a few, The Indian Identity serves as the final essay. This enriching compilation, has a lot of interesting questions and arguments put forth by the author - justifying the title of book (referring to the author himself ?!). With smart quotes ("One's identity is a matter of 'discovery', not choice.") and punchy lines, the classy style of writing hooks the reader. A truly Indian book that has revealed the extraordinary diagnosis that the real hardship of death consists of the frustrating inability to argue.